These Starry Skies
by Invader Karin
Summary: Everything changed when I met him. He opened up my eyes to everything that is out there in this universe. The good... and the bad. I never expected to get in the middle of all this madness that I now call my life. From giant shaking machines, to revenge-seeking aliens. Who knew that these starry skies could hold so much...
1. When Everything Was Still Normal

**Yay! My first story!**

**I've been planning this one for a while, so I hope you guys like it! **

**I apologize in advance if any of the characters are OOC, I'll work on that. **

**Now… On with the story! *grabs popcorn***

**I don't own Invader Zim or any of the characters. **

_Chapter 1: When Everything Was Still Normal_

I remember the first day I moved into the new house. It's hard to believe that it was only three years ago, it feels like a million. Everything was… normal back then, I guess I could say.

It was a cold, overcast afternoon, sometime in February. I had been unpacking boxes most of the day with my family, and when I thought we were FINALLY done, I sat down on the couch, hoping to rest for a little bit, until…

"Karin! Come and bring this last box up to your room!"

"Coming Mom…" I said, not too happily. I dragged my 12 year old self to where my mother was, and picked up the box she was pointing at. After climbing what felt like a million stairs, I finally arrived at my room at the end of the hall.

After I had shut the door and set the box down, I immediately collapsed onto my bed, exhausted. I stared around at my purple colored, box littered room, thinking.

For one thing, I was glad that we didn't move too far away from our old house. Just across town. Our old house was just too small for our still growing family. So at least I would be able to see my friends every once in a while.

What I wasn't too excited about was that we moved too far away from my old school, so I have to start going to a new one. I wondered what it would be like. What kind of people there were, if the teachers were nice… I just hoped the food wasn't as revolting as it was at my old school. Well, in three short days I would find out.

I heard a knock on my door, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Karin, it's time for dinner." My father said. "Coming!" I said.

I took one last look in the mirror. I remember my curly red hair being about shoulder length and frizzy, my pale skin spotted with a few freckles. I adjusted my glasses, (I couldn't wait for the day I would get my contacts) and raced down to the kitchen.

I snatched up the piece of paper sitting on top of the counter and grabbed my black jacket off of the coat hanger. "I got to go Mom, Dad, love you!" "Bye, love you." My dad responded. "Goodbye sweetie, have fun at your new school! Oh, and don't forget to go to the office and pick up your information about your class, your locker number, and stuff like that." My mom called. "Okay!" I said, opening the front door now. "Bye!" And without another word, I was out the door.

So far, there was one thing I already loved about my new school. I could walk to it, no more days of taking that darn school bus. I got to the sidewalk and stopped, looking down at the map my mother had drawn for me.

_OK, so I keep going this way until I get to that stop sign up there, I'll turn left, keep going until I get to the next stop sign…_

I kept walking for about five minutes, only glancing down at the paper occasionally to see if I was going the right direction. So far so good.

_I should be getting close to the second stop sign by now… It should be right around this corner…_

I wasn't prepared for what happened next. I turned the corner and instantly collided into something… No, wait, it was someone!

"S-sorry!" I squeaked nervously. I backed up, hiding my already crimson face.

_Well, this is embarrassing… _

"Hey, that's OK." I heard a boy's voice say. I turned to face the person I had just collided with. He was about my height, maybe an inch taller, and looked to be around the same age as me. He had black, scythe style hair and had big, round glasses. He was also wearing a black trenchcoat, something I usually don't see people wear.

When I didn't respond, (I wish I wasn't so shy), he looked down at the map in my hands. "Are you new around here?"

"Yes. Well… kind of." He gave me a strange look. "Kind of?" "I just moved from across town last week. But my new house is too far away from my old school, So I'm going to the one closer to here." The boy's confused look instantly changed to that of understanding. "Oh, okay. I'm Dib, by the way. I'm also a paranormal investigator!" He said, smiling widely. "And this is my sister, Gaz." It was just then that I noticed the purple-haired girl standing next to Dib. She was playing a GameSlave 2, and didn't even look up when he said her name. "She's kind of busy at the moment."

"I'm Karin." He looked confused. "Like the two words 'car' and 'in' put together?" I blushed a little bit, and chuckled a little awkwardly. "Hehe, yeah." "Cool name." I smiled a little bit at first. "Thanks."

"Hey, if you're going to my school, let me show you the rest of the way there!" And with that, we were off.

Dib seemed nice. I haven't even gotten to the school yet and I'm already meeting new people! Maybe there's nothing I should worry about.

I started to ask him questions about the school, just so I would know what to expect.

"Well, um, the food can sometimes make you sick," and then he added in a low whisper "Don't plan on eating lunch on ketchup and rice day, and never, NEVER get the mashed potatoes in your eyes." Could it really be that bad?!

Dib continued. "My teacher, Miss Bitters, is scary, and I mean, REALLY scary."

OK, so far I can expect a school with disgusting food and scary teachers? Great.

But what he said next was what made me think he was crazy. VERY crazy.

"There's something else you should know too." He paused for a second, I guess to make sure I was listening. "There is an alien that goes to our school! His name's Zim and he has been here for over a year now. He's been trying to take over the Earth, but I've stopped him every time!" He looked proud, as if he really had saved the Earth more than once.

Did I believe him? Of course not! Did he expect me to believe him? By the way he was looking at me, I'm pretty sure he was. Aliens? That go to our school?! Aliens don't even exist! There was no doubt in my mind at that point that this Dib person was crazy.

When I didn't say anything and only continued to stare at him, his face fell. "That sounds completely crazy to you, doesn't it?"

I nodded very slowly. "Nobody believes me anyway," he mumbled sadly.

_Well, why would they?_

"But wait, you haven't seen him yet!" Dib shouted, his amber eyes lighting up. "Maybe you'll believe me when you see him!" He grinned at me, expecting me to say something. "Uh-huh…" Was all I could manage to say.  
I could not have been happier to arrive at a school, especially this one. On the outside it looked old and run down, and I didn't expect the inside to look so great either.

Still with Dib and Gaz, I climbed up the steps and opened the door to what might have been the dirtiest school I have ever seen. There was paint chipping off of the walls, stains everywhere (even the ceiling!), and it didn't smell so good either.

"Well…" Dib said awkwardly, bringing me back to reality. "I guess I'll see you later then." "Yeah, see you." And with that, he and his sister walked off. Then I realized I didn't know where the front office was. "Hey! Dib! Wait!" He turned, "Yes?" he said expectantly. "Where is the office?" I called. "Oh," I guess he was expecting me to say I believed him or something. Anyway… "Just keep walking down that hallway, you'll find it, trust me!"

I did what he told me to do. I eventually ended up in a circle with doors all around it.

_Hm, biology, taxidermy, detention, nurse, ah hah! Office. _

I cautiously opened the door and slowly stepped inside. "Um… hello? Anyone?" I didn't see anybody in there, but I kept talking anyway. "Um, I'm Karin, and I'm new here, and I just need-" Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

I turned to see a short, skinny brunette lady standing there with a piece of paper in her hand. "Ah, you must be Karin. We've been expecting you." She said with a smile so wide, it was creepy.

She handed me the piece of paper in her hands which I assumed had my class information on it. "Now, off you go now." She said. I was more than glad to get out of that office.

I looked down at the paper and immediately groaned. _Teacher: Miss Bitters._

I found her room easily and slowly, reluctantly, opened the door.

Almost right away a tall, ominous looking old woman in a long black dress stood up from her desk and stared at me.

"Um… Hello, Miss Biters. I'm Karin, and I-" "Quiet, child." She cut me off. Dib was right about one thing. Miss Bitters was in fact, REALLY scary.

"Class, we have yet another child joining the class. Her name is Karin. Now, let's give you a place to sit."

I turned around a faced the classroom for the very first time.

… There were no seats available, every single one was filled. I was just looking at the front row, and I had to do a double-take. The boy sitting closest to the door had green skin. GREEN SKIN! This couldn't be the Zim guy Dib was…?

No. No… It couldn't be. Maybe something's wrong with his skin. Yeah, probably just a skin condition or something. But alien? No way. I just hope Dib's craziness doesn't wear off on me…

"YOU!" Miss Bitters shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts and back into reality. She was point at a dark-skinned girl sitting next to Dib. "You are being transferred to the underground classroom!" Suddenly, a hole opened up in the ground, and the girl fell down into it. And, just as quickly as it opened, the hole closed, leaving behind a now empty desk. I stared at it, not moving, shocked at what just happened.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Sit down, child!" I scurried to my seat, not wanting to upset the monst- um, teacher, anymore.

Dib leaned over to me and whispered, "Told you she was scary." I nodded.

"OK class," Miss Bitters began. "Today, I will be lecturing you about Earth's doom, and how it keeps getting closer every day."

There was a chuckle. That sounded quite evil, might I add.

Miss Bitters was glaring at the kid with green skin. "Yes, Zim?!" she asked irritably.

"Oh, nothing…" Zim said. "Just the thought of Earth's doom getting closer… so much closer…" He started chuckling again, which turned into loud laughter, which then changed into an evil cackle. I couldn't help but stare with the other kids. He immediately stopped when he noticed everybody's stares. "… I'M NORMAL!"

I turned to Dib to see what his reaction was to this. "Whatever you're planning, Zim, I will find out and I will stop you!" He shouted, glaring daggers at Zim.

"No, Dib-stink, I don't think you will!" Screamed Zim, who was staring right back.

"QUIET!" Miss Bitters shouted. The other children didn't react at all to this, as if it was normal for Zim and Dib to start shouting at each other.

Then I noticed something else… Zim didn't have any ears… Wait, no ears?! What?!

"As I was saying…" Miss Bitters growled. Then she continued to drone on endlessly about Earth's doom. It was quite easy to tune her out, I quickly discovered.

I couldn't wait for that dismissal bell to ring.

**So… what did you guys think?**

**Sorry if this chapter is a little boring. To be honest, this is probably the most boring chapter in the whole story. But I promise, it will get better, just you wait. :D **

**Since this is my first story, feel free to give me suggestions, tell me what you liked and didn't like, etc. Constructive criticism would be really helpful! **

**Thanks for reading! **


	2. Realizations

**So, I decided to get chapter 2 out a little early. **

**I already have the first 3 chapters planned out completely, so I thought to myself, why not publish this one too?**

**It will make up for chapter 1 being so boring. xD **

**So yeah, read it, review… **

**Enjoy. XD **

_Chapter 2: Realizations_

Dark purple eyes gazed longingly at the star filled sky above them. It seemed so close, yet so far away at the same time.

The eyes then lowered themselves to stare at their surroundings. Filth. Everywhere they looked. Filth. Scrap metal was littered everywhere, along with the occasional crashed spaceship. _Filth._

This planet really lives up to its name.

The owner of these particular eyes let out a frustrated sigh. How she HATED this place! She hated everything about it! But not because of how disgusting it is. No. Instead, it caused her PAK to bring back horrible, horrible memories…

The reason she was sent here in the first place many years ago. It was all his fault. His fault! And now she was here. Again. Because of him. Again!

She didn't have any choice but to return to this awful place. She wouldn't, ever, face her leaders after what had happened. Not until she had made things right again. She had failed them. Because of him.

She took one glance at her escape pod. It was useless. No weapons, nothing to defend itself. It was just plain useless.

But why didn't she have a proper ship? Because of him.

She painfully looked away, and stared at her broken SIR Unit. With the absence of its memory disk, what good was it?

Why was she forced to dismantle her one and only companion? Because of him.

Why is her life completely ruined at the moment?

Because of him.

The only thing she hated more than this awful place, was that stupid defect! She will never understand how he manages to screw everything up.

Caused Horrible Painful Overload Day. Irk was in darkness for five, long years.

Caused Horrible Painful Overload Day Part II. Irk was in darkness… for four more years!

Killed two Almighty Tallest. TWO!

Caused a blackout on half of Devastis.

Ruined Operation Impending Doom I.

Ruined everything she had ever worked for.

She can't fathom why the Tallest haven't had him executed yet. But once she found him… Let's just say she'd take matters into her own hands.

And that's exactly why she chose to return here. Not to Irk where she could simply ask for a new ship and have someone repair her robot for her… No. Besides, she's not going back there until the world is right again, remember?

No. She was going to do almost exactly what she did last time. Every day and night she's been here, she's been sifting through the scraps of metal, taking parts from crashed ships, finding and repairing weapons… almost like last time.

Her new ship would be bigger, faster, and better equipped. Her robot would be modified and more dangerous than ever before. She would be ready this time.

Not ready to fight him. No, she would be ready to _defeat_ him. She would be ready to finally prove to her Tallest that she is better than that defect.

She would finally get what was rightfully hers from the beginning. She would finally give him what he deserved from the day he was born.

Last time, she wasn't out for revenge. She had no reason to! All she needed was to prove to her Tallest that she was better than him.

Or at least she thought she had no reason. Now she realizes, not only has he wreaked havoc in her life (twice!), he has also brought chaos to many other members of their own race, even to the planet itself.

If she was the one to stop him, to deactivate him when no one else would, she wouldn't just be doing justice for herself. She would be doing justice for their _entire race._

And there is nothing in this universe that could be better than that.

She looked at the progress she had made on her half-finished ship. It could take weeks, months even to finish it. But it would be worth it. Oh, how it would be worth it!

She already had her plan. To her, it was flawless. Perfect. Not even the defect, who has managed to ruin absolutely everything, could ruin this.

She gazed once more at the black sky littered with bright, shining stars, determined and full of confidence.

"I'm coming, _Zim_!"

* * *

I set my lunch tray down at the table beside the window, waiting for Dib to come and join me. I was extremely thankful that today was Friday. This week has probably been the strangest week I've ever had at school.

As usual, nobody else was sitting by me. But that's OK, because I'm not sure if I wanted to sit by the other children either. The only reason I like sitting by Dib was because I didn't feel alone at this new school.

But why did Dib want to sit by me? Just like everyone else, I didn't believe him about what he said about the paranormal, and he knows I don't believe him too. Or at least I thought I didn't believe him.

_I don't treat him the way the others do._ A voice in my head said.

I saw the way they treated Dib. Dib, the only person in this school who seemed even remotely like someone I could get along with. I don't know why it upset me so much to see him treated badly, but it did.

Was it because I believed Dib? At that point, I just wasn't sure. I was also afraid that if I said I believed him, I would be an outcast and treated just like him. And I didn't want that, especially only after a week at this new school. I remember wanting to be just like the other kids. I don't know why it mattered to me that I wanted to be just like them, but back then, it just did.

I scanned the lunch room, searching for Dib. My eyes caught sight of the girl with dark purple hair and braces. I think her name was Gretchen. She was only one of the few people at this school who seemed friendly. Maybe I'll go and sit by her…

"Hey!" Dib's voice said, setting his tray down next to mine.

"Hi! You startled me."

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, look at Zim over there. He's not eating… again! Haven't you noticed that he never eats here? Nobody else does! And haven't you also noticed that…"

There he goes again. Babbling on and on about Zim. That's all he talks about! I'd prefer to sit with Dib than to sit by myself, but it gets really annoying. It's almost as if he's obsessed with him!

Every single day, his non-stop talking about Zim has driven me insane. I just wanted him to stop!

"… I mean, it's so obvious, and if everyone would just listen to me they would realize that-"

"Um, Dib?" He shut up immediately. "No offense, but can you please shut up about Zim?"

Dib looked a little taken aback at what I just said. "But-" He began, but I interrupted him.

"It's just that…" I began awkwardly. "I… I know that you believe Zim's an alien and everything, but that doesn't mean I do too. It's just too weird for me! I mean, it's my first week at this school, and already someone I barely know is repeatedly trying to convince me that there's an alien here! Maybe Zim does have a skin condition, I don't know, but don't you think calling him an alien is a little, you know, out there?"

That came out sounding ruder than I expected it would. I regretted saying it the moment I finished.

Dib thought for a second. "But Karin, you don't understand." Dib said calmly, as if I hadn't just snapped at him. "I know what I'm talking about, I've stopped him countless times, and look at this!" He pulled a small laptop out from the inside of his trenchcoat. "Why didn't I show you this earlier?"

He then proceeded to show me about twenty pictures, all relating to Zim. He showed me a strange looking dog ("It's his robot minion in disguise!"), many pictures of an eerie, green house, and even an alien spaceship he claims to have captured.

"And look at this one! This is one of the only ones I have of him without his disguise on!"

If there was one thing I could say about Zim's disguise, it's this. It sucked.

I stared at the screen, taking it all in. Instead of hair, there was a pair of antennae. Instead of blue eyes, they were a rich ruby color. He had a striking resemblance to an insect. Maybe Dib was right…

_No. No! If I believe him, that would mean I'm crazy. Right? And I am NOT crazy!_

There I go again for maybe the hundredth time this week. Trying to convince myself of something I wasn't even sure was true. This was all too much for me. Maybe I really was going crazy…

I stared blankly at the screen for what felt like hours. Suddenly, I heard violent coughing from the other side of the lunch room, pulling me out of my trance. I whipped my head around to find the person it was coming from. Zim was sprawled out on the floor, coughing up the pathetic excuse for food that the Skool serves us. "DELICIOUS!" He choked out between coughs.

"You see!" Dib yelled at me. "Look at how he reacts to our food! He can barely taste it without choking! Come on, there is no way you can't believe me now!" He sounded absolutely desperate now.

I picked up my lunch tray, with all of my food untouched, and walked away, without saying a word. I needed time to think about this. I needed time away from this crazy place.

And for the fifth time this week since Monday, I couldn't wait for that dismissal bell to ring.

* * *

"Go on without me Gaz, I'll see you at home." Gaz walked down the front steps of the Skool, not even acknowledging her older brother.

Dib stayed behind and searched everywhere for her. Through the halls, on the playground, everywhere. He had no luck whatsoever.

After what felt like hours, he gave up on his search for Karin and headed home.

One person. That was all he wanted was one person on this planet to believe him. He thought he had that one person, but clearly he was mistaken. Today he realized that he might never have that one person now. He had already proved himself to be crazy before, and now he had done it again.

Besides, anyone who did "believe" him, was only trying to "help" him. Yeah right.

Gaz believed him, yes. But she didn't care. She couldn't care less if Zim wiped out the entire human race.

He can't keep doing this on his own. He needed someone on his side. Who knows what Zim could be planning next?

* * *

Midnight. My parents should be sound asleep by now.

I cautiously opened up my bedroom window and carefully climbed outside. I gripped onto the edge of the roof and easily climbed on top.

Climbing on top of roofs was like second nature to me now.

At my old home, every time I needed to be left alone, to think, or if I was just plain bored, I would simply open up my window, and climb up onto the roof. As simple as that. Always at night too. I loved gazing up at the star studded sky, with the moon so perfectly fitting in there. I always wondered what it would be like to be up there, high above the Earth, all alone, a freedom that no one could take away.

But tonight, while staring in awe at the billions of shining dots above me, I thought, _Would I really be alone up there?_

That's a question that's been going through my head a lot this week. Are we really alone? In a universe with billions upon billions of galaxies, are we really alone?

Right now, it just didn't seem likely anymore. In those billions of galaxies, there were a countless number of stars, which means there could be other solar systems, other planets… More life.

Now, looking up at only a very small portion of the universe that is all around me, I thought maybe, just maybe, Dib was right.

Throughout the week, I had noticed some very odd things about Zim. Very odd. Just the way he acted was… unnatural. The way he talked about Earth's doom. He sounded… happy, even excited about it.

I noticed he would always refer to Dib, and to the other children, as "pig smellies" and "filthy worm babies." As if he hates humans…

I have never heard of a skin condition that causes the skin to turn green. Never. To me, there was just no such thing.

His backpack thing was extremely out of the ordinary. Up until Thursday, I assumed that is was just a normal backpack. But a closer look at it told me that it was made out of metal. And fused into his back. Fused! As if it was a part of his body! There were no straps around his shoulders whatsoever.

When I looked at his gloved hands, I noticed that he only had three fingers on each hand. Three. And they didn't even look like fingers. They appeared to be more… claw like.

What really confused me was the lack of his ears and nose. He seemed to hear perfectly fine, and breath pretty well on his own too. It just wasn't humanly possible!

_HUMANLY possible…_

My eyes widened. Sudden realization hit me, as if I had been slapped in the face. My mouth hung open. I just sat there, frozen, on the rooftop. Only one thought crossed through my mind at that moment.

_I need to talk to Dib. _


	3. Plans Are Being Made

**Here's chapter 3! **

**I promise things will start heating up next chapter. **

**In the meantime, just enjoy this one for now XD **

_Chapter 3: Plans Are Being Made_

"Gir!"

No answer.

"GIR!"

Silence.

"GIR! OBEY YOUR MASTER!"

Suddenly, a small, silver robot fell from the ceiling and landed roughly on its silver head, making a loud crashing sound. It saluted, eyes flashing crimson, as it yelled "Yes, my master!"

"Gir! I need your help. We need to- GIR! LISTEN TO ME!"

The robot, eyes now bright cyan, was jumping from place to place in its head, rattling and crashing everywhere it went, laughing hysterically.

Zim let out a frustrated sigh. Why he thought asking Gir for help was a good idea, he will never know. He stomped over to Gir and lifted the insane little robot up, making it so that it was staring directly into Zim's ruby red eyes.

Gir, still giggling, calmed down and decided it was probably a good idea to listen to his master. "Now listen, Gir, I need your help. All we need to do is make a couple of adjustments to the Voot Cruiser. Its weapons have been acting kind of funny. Let's go, Gir."

"WHEEE-HOOO! I LIKES FIXING STUFF!" Gir screamed joyfully. Zim made a mental note to make some adjustments to his robot next.

The two climbed into the elevator leading to the storage room. Gir hummed all the way down, while Zim racked his brain for a new plan to destroy this planet.

He has been doing that a lot lately.

Zim did not want to admit it, but he was getting slightly desperate for ideas.

_It's all Dib-pig's fault! _Zim reasoned with himself. _That stinking human has got to learn not to get in the almighty Zim's way. He is just like every other sad creature on this planet. Disgusting, dumb, but his head is rather larger than most humans…_

"We're here!" Gir shouted, and bolted into the storage room. The medium sized, low lit room was packed full. There were boxes everywhere, filled with who knows what. There were shelves filled with miscellaneous items, many tool boxes, and the whole right wall was reserved for weapons. Zim made his way to the tool boxes while Gir opened up random boxes and started searching through them for no apparent reason.

Zim picked up two of the tool boxes and was ready to leave, when Gir suddenly shouted "MASTER! What's this thingy!?"

Zim was so startled he nearly dropped the tool boxes. He set them down and turned to find Gir staring at a large sheet of paper, though Zim could not tell what it was in the dimly lit room. "Hand it to Zim!" He demanded. The robot obeyed, placing the mysterious sheet of paper in Zim's hands.

"Hey…" Zim said, looking at the paper. He recognized this, but he hadn't seen it for months. He had completely forgotten about it.

He continued to stare at the blueprints for this particular machine for nearly five minutes. Plans were formulating in his head. No one, not even the Dib beast, would be expecting this! If the superior Zim had forgotten about this, he was certain that inferior human had forgotten too.

"Yes…" Zim muttered. "Yes, yes, yes!" Zim was grinning from ear to ear- um, from one side of his green head to the other. Zim started cackling evilly. "Come on, Gir!" He yelled, grabbing the robot's tiny wrist and bolting out of the door, tool boxes left behind.

_Maybe my crazy robot is helpful after all._

* * *

The humongous, reddish-pink ship drifted silently through the open space, surrounded by a swarm of smaller ships. It looked calm on the outside, but on the inside, it was a totally different story.

"Incoming transmission from Earth."

"Ughhhh!" "What could it possibly be now?" The two tallest Irkens in the room complained. The large screen of the Massive's control room was suddenly lit up with the unmistakable face that could only belong to, you guessed it, Zim.

"Greetings my Tallest!" Zim shouted enthusiastically. Red sighed. "Yes, hello, Zim." He said, trying his absolute best to be patient. His partner, however, had already failed at that. "What do you want now, Zim?" Purple yelled rather irritably.

"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to call and tell you that the mission is going well, nothing big to report. Just rest assured that my efforts to conquer this sad, filthy planet will eventually pay off!"

Red and Purple exchanged a knowing glance. They were interrupted from their snacking for this?

"Yeah, that's great Zim." Red said. "Now, go back to… whatever you were doing and leave us to-"

"WAIT!" Zim screamed, his obnoxiously loud voice causing every Irken in the control room to jump. "Yes, Zim?" Purple spat.

"Don't you want to hear my amazing new plan?" "Well, Zim, we-" Red started, but was cut off.

"First I will construct this nuclear powered shaking machine," Zim exclaimed proudly, holding up the blueprints Gir had discovered only a few short minutes ago. "But instead of-"

"Hey, Zim!" Purple interrupted him, ready to end this transmission with Zim. "You know, you interrupted something very important, it was, uh… um…" "Organic Sweep!" Red interrupted, yelling out the first thing that came to his mind. "Yes, we are in the middle of an Organic Sweep of… some other planet, so if you could just leave us be-"

"Oooh, can I watch? Please, my Tallest?" Zim begged, his ruby red eyes staring pleadingly at his leaders.

"NO!" Both Tallest screamed in unison, growing tired of talking to Zim. "But, I quite enjoy watching destruction!" Zim yelled, a devious grin on his face.

"Maybe later Zim. But we have to go now." Red said as calmly as he could. "But, WAIT!-" The transmission was abruptly cut off, leaving the Tallest to snack freely once more.

* * *

Dib climbed up the front steps of the Skool, shivering in the frigid February air. When he stepped inside, the temperature was no better.

_Man, can't this Skool pay for heating? _

Dib walked into his classroom and sat down at his desk next to the window. Still shivering, he pulled his trenchcoat tighter around his body. He looked around the classroom, curious to see if anyone else was freezing to death like he was. As he had expected, there was much shivering and teeth chattering.

He noticed Karin walking into the room, but it appeared she wasn't as bothered by these Arctic temperatures as everybody else was. But to Dib, it seemed like she was bothered by something else. She had an anxious look on her face, and kept glancing his way. She quietly sat down next to him and didn't say a word. He was about to say something to her, but his teacher interrupted.

"Alright class, shut up. Now, today I'm going to lecture you about-"

"Ms. Bitters, I'm cold!" Dib heard Keef shout. Immediately, all of the other students started whining. "QUIET!" Ms. Bitters shouted. "Now, as I was saying…." Dib found it quite easy to tune his scary teacher out. He got out a piece of paper and a pencil in an attempt to look like he was paying attention, and started writing.

After a few seconds, he folded the paper up and, waiting until Ms. Bitters wasn't looking, whispered to Karin. "Psst, hey… Hey!" Karin turned her head. Dib held out the note, and she quickly snatched it up. After reading it, she scribbled down a response, and handed it back to Dib.

Dib quietly unfolded the note and read.

Dib: _You look worried. Are you OK?_

Karin: _I need to talk to you. It's important. _

Dib instantly became curious. He was about to write down his reply when a shadow suddenly appeared over his desk.

"DIB! No passing notes in class!" Ms. Bitters picked up the note and ripped it into what looked like thousands of pieces. Dib stayed silent, too anxious to find out about what Karin had to talk about.

Wait… Zim would find it amusing to see Dib get yelled at by their teacher. So why wasn't he hearing any laughing? He looked past Karin and discovered that Zim's desk was empty.

_Hmm… That's strange. I wonder where he could be… He's probably planning something big! I just know it! _

* * *

"What about there?!" Gir shouted into Zim's antenna. Zim, ignoring the pain in his right antenna, looked down to see where his robot was pointing.

"No, Gir, just like the last twenty places you have showed me, there isn't enough room. Do you not understand how LARGE this is going to be?!" "I like bees!" Gir screamed happily. Zim sighed and continued his search for an ideal place to build his machine.

He flew the Voot Cruiser to the left, making sure that the city was still in sight. "Now remember, Gir, we can't fly too far away from the city. Your job is to make sure we don't get too far away, alright? GIR!"

The little, hyperactive robot was standing on its head, not listening to his master. Zim just gave up on Gir and continued searching.

* * *

The lunch bell marked the end of Ms. Bitters' lecture, setting the students free. Dib waited for Karin and started walking with her. "So," he began. "What do you need to talk to me about?" Karin, instead of turning right to the cafeteria, turned left, on the way to the doors leading outside to the playground. "Um, Karin? Are you sure you want to go outside?"

She looked at me. "I want to talk to you alone." She said. "Oh… right." Dib let Karin lead the way.

Once they had made it outside, Dib started talking. "So… what is it?" He asked.

Karin, without hesitating, looked straight into his eyes, and simply stated "I believe you. About Zim."

Dib stood there, unaware that his mouth was hanging open in shock. He never thought he would hear anybody say that to him… and mean it! Someone actually believed him! "You… Believe me?!" Dib asked, a huge grin breaking out on his face.

Karin looked a little taken aback by his reaction, but also looked relieved at the same time. "Um, yeah, I do." She said, chuckling.

"Oh, this is great!" Dib shouted, punching the air with his fist. So many ideas started filling his head. "We can be a team! Against Zim! We can finally stop him! Yes!" Dib stopped celebrating long enough to ask, "What changed your mind?"

Karin looked up at the sky and back at Dib again. "I don't know really, I just thought about it for a while… I found it strange, you know, how Zim didn't have ears, how that metal thing is fused into his back. I just realized, it wasn't humanly possible, you know?"

Dib nodded. "Meet me after school today and I'll take you to my house! I have a bunch of stuff to show you!" Dib said, still smiling excitedly. He checked his watch. "Hey, maybe we should go if we are going to have enough time to eat." Just then, Karin realized how hungry she really was, she had been so nervous about talking to Dib that she hadn't noticed before.

And with that, they were off.

* * *

"HERE!" Zim shouted. The Voot Cruiser began its descent onto the grassy ground. "This is perfect!" The tiny Irken yelled. The ship landed gently, and Zim hopped out.

This part of the woods looked familiar to him, as if he had been here before. But for some reason, it reminded him of a bunch of superweapons…

Gir followed his master, jumping out of the Voot Cruiser and landing with a _thud _on the ground. "OOOOOOOOOH…" The robot said, observing the many trees and plants around him.

Zim reached into his PAK and pulled out the blueprints. "Yes… This is the perfect place…" He muttered. "IS WE GONNA BUILD THE BIG MACHINE NOW, MASTER?!" Gir yelled from on top of a tree. "No, Gir, not yet!" Zim shouted in response. "It could take weeks to build, which is why I need you to remember the coordinates of this place. COMPUTER!" "What?!" The computer's voice said from inside the Voot Cruiser. "Bring up the coordinates for this location!" The computer did so.

"Gir! Come here!" Gir fell from the top of the tree, landing a few feet away from Zim. He marched over to his robot and opened its head which was, not surprisingly, filled with rubber piggies. Zim shoved his hand in, searching for Gir's faulty memory disk. After finding it, he went back to his ship, followed by Gir, and shoved the little disk into a slot, downloading the coordinates.

"Alright Gir, this is very important!" Zim said sternly. "You have to be very, very, very, VERY careful with this memory disk, understand, Gir? GIR!" Instead of listening, Gir was squeezing one of his rubber piggies, giggling. Zim snatched the piggy out of his silver hand in an attempt to make his robot pay attention, which he instantly realized was a mistake. Gir's cyan eyes filled with tears, threatening to spill over. "You can have your piggy back when you listen to me! All I need you to do, is to be very careful with this memory disk, and don't let anything happen to it, do you understand?!"

Gir nodded slowly, waiting for his rubber piggy to be returned to him. "Here." Zim said, shoving the piggy back into Gir's hands. Gir squealed and hugged the little pig.

Zim once again opened up Gir's head and placed the memory disk deep inside, hoping it would stay safe. "Wait…." Came Gir's voice. "If this is going to take a long time to build, won't people just find it when we're not here?"

Zim hadn't thought about that. But he knew it wasn't going to happen. His plans never fail, he is Zim after all!

"Do not question Zim!" He yelled at his robot. "Now, come Gir, we are going home."  
"Wheeee-hooo! I'm gonna go watch the Scary Monkey Show!" Gir shouted with glee.

* * *

"Here we are!" Dib said when we arrived at his house. It was a large, tall, gray house, with an electric fence in the front yard. "Follow me." Dib said. Instead of leading me to the front door, he led me to his garage. "Wait until you see this!"

He opened the garage door and raced inside. I followed him, curious about what he had to show me. The very first thing I noticed was a blanket, which appeared to be covering something huge. Dib grabbed the blanket and yanked it right off, revealing what I immediately recognized as the alien spaceship he showed me on his laptop last week.  
I gazed at it, not believing what I was seeing. I was standing in front of an actual spaceship, an alien spaceship! Dib stood there proudly, a huge grin on his face.

"How… How did you get it?!" I asked curiously. "Oh, well, kind of a long story, I'll tell you later."

"Does it still work?" "Well, it didn't when I first got it, but after making a few adjustments, yeah, it still works!"  
"You could go anywhere you wanted with this…" "I know! I can't wait to go out in space with it!"

I stared at him. "You haven't even been to space with it yet?!" Dib shook his head. "Not yet."

I stared in awe at the ship for at least five more minutes. I couldn't pull myself away, it was just… breathtaking.

Dib finally pulled me out of my trance. "Hey, let's go up to my room, I need to ask you something. Follow me."

Curious as to what this question could be, I followed him. "Hey Gaz, Karin's here." Dib said to his sister, who was playing video games on the couch. "Whatever." She mumbled. "Don't mind her." Dib said while we were walking up the stairs. "She's not much of a people person."

I followed Dib down the hallway. He opened the door to his bedroom and I stepped inside. His room was covered in posters of all things paranormal, including monsters, ghosts, Bigfoot, aliens… Everything.

Dib closed the door behind him and began talking right away, suddenly becoming very serious. "OK, there is something I need your help with. It's something that I can't do on my own. I've never had anyone else I could go to for help with this, but now that you're here, I can. And I know this will sound completely crazy to you, especially since we only met a week ago, but it has to be done."

This was sounding a little weird to me. "Wh-what is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"I need you to help me rescue someone."


	4. Nick

**So, I meant to get chapters 4 and 5 up at the same time.**

**But it looks like that's not going to happen. **

**I just wanted to get this one up because it's been finished for a while. This chapter is a little bit shorter than usual though :P **

**But I'm trying to make chapter 5 really long, so that's why it's taking me so long to update. **

**Just enjoy this for now xD **

**Oh, and I might start a another Invader Zim story soon :D (It will have nothing to do with this one.) **

**Time to reply to reviews! (Even though it's only one review... still counts xD)**

**The Zoster: I'm giving you more! Haha xD Thanks for being my first reviewer, really glad that you like my story! :D You're awesome! And yes, yes you do sound like Gir xD **

_Chapter 4: Nick_

_He needed me to WHAT?! _

Immediately questions started forming in my head. Who do we need to rescue? When would we rescue them? How would we rescue them? And most importantly, why did this person need rescuing?!

There was a heavy silence in the room. The only sound was the soft humming of Dib's computer on the opposite side of the room. I stood there, confused, trying to put the correct words together to form a response. But before I could, Dib broke the silence.

"So… Will you?" He asked expectantly, his amber eyes wide.

I stood there, shocked. "Wait… Wait a minute!" I stammered. "I think I should at least know a little more about this first! Like, first of all, who do we need to rescue?!"

Dib didn't look surprised by my reaction. Instead, he walked over to his computer. "Come here." He said. I followed, not quite sure what I was expecting to hear. Dib started opening some programs on his computer. "OK, I don't know much about him, but here's what I do know." He started pulling up…. Was that a live video feed on his computer?

Dib continued talking. "His name is Nick, and just a few months ago, I discovered that he is Zim's human test subject, being held prisoner in his base." Zim has… A human test subject?! "About three weeks ago, I was able to sneak into Zim's base and place spy cameras everywhere. But then he caught me, and there was chaos, screaming, and rubber piggies… So many rubber piggies!" He muttered the last part more to himself than to me.

"Anyway, when I got back here, I noticed that Zim hadn't discovered one of the cameras I had placed in one of his labs. Look right there!" He pointed at his screen, which was now a live video feed from what I assumed was one of Zim's labs. The walls were lined with what looked like small containment chambers. Dib was pointing at one of the first containment chambers on the left wall. I looked closely and saw a boy. "Is that...?" "Yup."

The boy called Nick was floating inside the chamber. What scared me was the large... thing that was screwed into the top of his head. But despite all of this, he was grinning. It was as if he was happy to be where he was.

"Um, Dib? What's that _thing_ in his head?" I asked, kind of afraid to hear the answer. "Oh, that. That's a brain probe. I think it's supposed to make him happy." My mouth hung open in shock. "That poor kid..." I mumbled. Dib nodded. "That's what I thought too."

"So, will you help me rescue him?" Dib asked again. There was no way I couldn't now! "Yes!" I exclaimed without a second thought. "There is no way we are letting Nick be Zim's human test subject any longer!" Dib's eyes lit up. "Right! And we can finally expose Zim for what he really is!"

So many questions were floating around in my head. "So," I started. "When are we going to rescue Nick?" Dib's excited expression was replaced by a serious one. "That's the problem. I don't know. I was actually going to rescue Nick when I was down in Zim's base, but he caught me before I could." "Is it easy getting inside Zim's base?" Dib thought for a second. "Well, kind of. It was easier before he made upgrades to his security system. Knowing Zim, he probably upgraded it again to keep me out. Which means, we should rescue Nick when Zim isn't in his base. But I don't know when that will be."

New questions kept popping up in my head all at once. My curiosity level was at an all-time high. _What does the inside of Zim's base look like? What would happen if Zim caught us? How advanced is Zim's security system? _

"Tell me more about Zim." I said. If there was anybody who knew a lot about Zim, it was the short kid with glasses sitting right next to me. Finally, all of my questions were about to be answered. Dib's face instantly lit up. "Alright! What do you want to know?"

_EVERYTHING! _A voice screamed in my head. Instead, I said "You know, like, where he's from and stuff."

"OK!" Dib said. He started pulling up a bunch of pictures and documents on his computer. "I've been able to learn a lot about Zim's race by using the onboard computer on Tak's crashed spaceship. So far, I've learned that-"

"Who is Tak?" I cut him off. "Long story, tell you in a bit." He sounded anxious to keep telling me about Zim. "I've been able to figure out that Zim is an Irken, from a planet called Irk. He was sent here by his leaders to destroy the Earth, and…."

Dib talked for what seemed like hours and hours. I was hanging off of his every word, taking in everything he was saying about the Irken, letting all of this new, fascinating information sink in.

* * *

Tak held up the newly repaired memory disk. She had been working on it for countless hours now. It looked nothing like it did the day before when she found it. She had been searching through the remains of a crashed spaceship, trying to find parts that would suit her own ship, when she found the remains of a broken SIR Unit. It was missing a few limbs, but the head was still there. Tak opened the head and, much to her relief, she found what she was looking for; the memory disk.

She marched over to her own almost fully repaired SIR Unit, opened up its head, and carefully placed the disk inside. After closing the head, she set it carefully on the ground, and slowly took a few steps backwards. "Mimi! Respond!" She said in a stern voice.

She held her breath, anticipation building up inside of her. Now was the moment to see if all of her hard work would finally pay off. The seconds dragged by, feeling more like hours. _Come on, come on, come on… _

Suddenly, Mimi shot straight up, eyes flashing bright red, and saluted. _Yes! _

But she wasn't done yet. "Okay, Mimi, use your jets and fly from here to that ship over there." Tak pointed to a crashed ship off in the distance. "And then come straight back." Mimi did as Tak said, and landed perfectly in front of her master.

_Jets working? Check._

"Now, use your lasers and shoot that same ship." Mimi obeyed, and, without moving from her spot, blasted the ship to pieces.

_Weapons working, perfect aim. Wonderful. _

"Now, Mimi," Tak commanded. "You will assist me in finishing my ship. The sooner we get this thing working, the better." Mimi saluted once again. "Yes master, I obey!" Tak grinned at the sight of her own SIR Unit. "Follow me!" Tak said. She and Mimi made their way to Tak's ship.

With no one to help her, it could have taken weeks before the ship was finished. But now that Mimi was fixed and fully functional again, that could all change. Tak glanced at her SIR Unit, who was hard at work. Just looking at Mimi caused a feeling of hope to swell up inside of her. Things were getting better. She would be leaving Dirt soon. Tak lifted her eyes up to the night sky.

"I said I would come back, Zim, and I meant it!"

* * *

Dib slipped out of the front door and into the cold February night air. He started making his way down to the familiar, eerie green house at the end of the street.

Or what most people thought was a house. If the world would just listen to him, they would know that it is not a house, but it is actually an alien base inhabited by a criminally insane alien who is trying to destroy all human life!

…..But that's the problem. They didn't listen to Dib, did they?

Dib brushed that thought away when he reached Zim's glowing base. He cautiously extracted a small spy camera from his pocket, no bigger than the size of a cell phone.

Instead of putting the spy camera inside the house, Dib decided to try a new, less dangerous strategy.

"With this placed on the fence," Dib muttered to himself. "I will be able to spy on Zim's base from the outside and know when he leaves, making it easier for us to know when to rescue Nick. Also, it will be harder for him to find this camera if it's on the outside. Yes! Hey, I'm talking to myself again… Oh well."

It took Dib less than five minutes to set up the little spy camera. When he finished, he turned to walk back to his house. But before he even took one step, he heard a door creak open. Then suddenly, a shout.

"MASTAH! The big-head boy is here!"

"No I'm not!" He shouted stupidly, hoping that Zim had not heard him. He turned and sprinted into the darkness. "WHERE IS HE?!" He heard Zim's voice shout. Dib froze in his tracks, hidden behind one of the neighbor's houses. He looked and saw Zim, wearing his disguise, standing in his doorway. "GIR, I see no Dib!"

Dib could barely make out GIR's tiny frame, but he could tell one thing; he was pointing straight in his direction. "He went that way, master!" Zim's eyes darted in Dib's direction. Dib had no other option but to make a run for it. He bolted down the sidewalk, into the direction of his own house. "That's right, sad little Dib-worm, you better stay away from my base, you pathetic human!" Zim shouted after Dib. Dib turned the corner, out of Zim's sight.

Dib burst through his front door and ran up the stairs. When he reached his room, he collapsed onto his bed, exhausted. "Well," he panted. "That was close."


End file.
